martha: got a lot covered there. bill: is that us? martha: got a lot covered there. bill: see you tomorrow. martha: no time left. bye. jon: brand new stories and breaking news. jenna: start with bill hemmer's hands, there a peace sign if you will. here is our top story of the dave. fallout from a meeting with ambassador susan rice and republican lawmakers. you saw that moments ago. the president making the case to the public on his strategy resolving the fiscal crisis. as the parties remain at odds whether to raise taxes on the wealthiest americans. tragedy in mexico a young beauty queen caught in cross fire in shootout

between mexican soldiers and drug traffickers,. the details there. it is all "happening now." jenna: it is a good day to start. we're working through a lot, we sure are. there is messy weather outside. jenna: there is that. glad to have you with us on a tuesday. i'm jenna lee. jon: i'm jon scott. a critical meeting on capitol hill. u.n. ambassador susan rice met with three top republicans about libya. jenna: john mccain, lindsey graham, and kelly ayotte criticized explanations rice given in the past and obviously today and on the attack in benghazi the meeting doesn't appear to help smooth away for rice's widely anticipated nomination as secretary of state. here is senator ayotte moments ago ago. >> when you have a position where your ambassador to the united nations you go well beyond unclassified talking points in your daily

preparations and responsibilities for that job and that is troubling to me. jenna: kelly wright, live in washington with more. kelly, the three senators just held the news briefing which we played a little bit from kelly ayotte. tell us generally what was their response? what sort of reaction they had to what they heard inside that closed-door meeting? >> reporter: let's stay on focus on that because that is really telling. each senator saw the tone being stunned by the information they heard in this closed-door meeting with u.n. ambassador susan rice. they are significantly troubled they say, more than that ever, which means there are more questions than answers as a result of this meeting. even saying that rice ace comments were clearly wrong. >> what happened initially was it was a spontaneous reaction to what had just transpired in cairo. as a consequence of the video. >> reporter: and right after that, during that news briefing that we heard, we heard from actually senator lindsey graham, senator kelly ayotte and senator

john mccain, all of them stating those comments are completely wrong. senator graham going so far to say, people don't bring mortars, grenades to spontaneous demonstrations. think basically wanted to know why ambassador rise in the first place, went on public television, went on television on five sunday morning talk programs five days after the september 11th attacks and failed to give an adequate definition of what took place there. that is what they're drilling down trying to find out. they are left more troubled it seems with ambassador rice's comments. jenna: kelly, how did this meeting come about the? was it requested by the senators? was it something the ambassador wanted to do? how did it come about today? >> reporter: you look at backdrop, senator john mccain said he would welcome any meeting with ambassador rice. she initiated this. ambassador rice emerged as you know as frontrunner possibly being nominated for secretary of state. if sew she will have to face these critics in a

confirmation hearing and will need their support. with today's meeting she hoped she could face the senators lindsey graham, john mccain. kelly ayotte who claim she misled the public during the explanation of the september 11th attack on the u.s. consulate in benghazi, libya, which ambassador chris stevens and three other americans were killed. now as a result of this meeting one has to raise the question, particularly with the white house, is this a nomination they can move forward with considering the fact that the all three senators left very troubled by answers. jenna: all the questions who is behind the attacks in benghazi, when they, if ever will be brought to justice? we can't lose focus on that along with the politics is an important story today. kelly, thank you so much. >> reporter: thank you, jenna. jon: as the clock ticks toward that many looking fiscal cliff president obama is taking his case to small business owners from across the country, meeting with more than a dozen at the white house, looking to

avoid a year-end tax hikes and spending cuts. republican leaders will meet with a bipartisan group of former members of congress as list leaders as well as both sides hold the line on taxes. >> i'm willing to put revenue on the table to pay down debt and create a better economy but my democratic friends have to reform entitlements. what will make us greece is not raising taxes. what will make us greece is not fixing medicare, medicaid and social security. jon: white house press secretary jay carney says president obama will not give on extending current tax rates on wealthy americans. on entitlements carney says the president is open to changes except when it comes to social security. >> the president has long made clear that he is open to discussions about strengthening social security as part of a separate track. jon: so is the u.s. economy heading for a plunge over the fiscal cliff? with us now, associate editor and columnist for

"the hill", a.b. stoddard. so what are the folks that you cover there on capitol hill, what are they saying about the prospects here? >> well, in the last 10 days it starts to sound more and more like democrats don't really have a problem with going over the slope or the cliff. they won't really admit that but it seems that they're not working so hard to stop it. you see the white house trying to tell americans that there is going to be such a steep tax increase on the middle class that it could affect consumer spending at the holidays. that is 20% of total retail consumer demand for the year. that would have a bad effect on the economy. republicans have already agreed to increase taxes on the wealthy. when you heard senator gram and others say they're willing to cap deductions and close loopholes. they're willing to find new revenues we know taxes on the wealthy are going up. what we're talking about is an increase in rates. republicans tell me if the president moves off the 250,000 number to somewhere

between 500,000 and a million they're going to end up agreeing to an increase in rates. that will be slight. it won't be 39.6. but that would probably end up with republicans budging there. democrats have one place to go. they have to agree to some movement on medicare reform. the president has inched over there but he is under tremendous pressure from liberals not to touch medicare. he will have to give something or republicans won't give increase in the debt ceiling. jon: you talked to bret baier a lot on "special report" and he was on yesterday and gave us a statistic our brain room developed but bret didn't get it right and wanted me to correct it. if you take the increase in the bush tax rates that president obama campaigned on and wants to go forward with, you get funding for the federal government for about eight and a half days per year. that is all. >> yeah. jon: now that, i guess you might say more than a drop in the bucket, i'm not sure but you will have to come up

with a lot of other something, either cuts or revenue to make up the difference. >> right. it's not enough. what we're looking at now is just trying to get, $4 trillion deal but just to a $1.2 trillion deal. the president wants 1.6. we have to see compromise of around a trillion. that is really going to, that is not going to be found by, by expiring the bush tax cuts for top earners. you have to find more money. that's why both sides have to give. democrats who haven't proposed any spending cuts to replace the sequester need to move on entitlement reform. if they don't want to touch social security, medicare is one they have to move on. jon: no spending cuts at all from democrats so far? >> that's why you get a sense democrats are fine to let sequester cuts agreed in the budget controlled act of 2011 to let them take place. i think they're fine with the sequester, to see deep defense cuts and not actually replace them before december 31.

they haven't proposed any. jon: that is going to be interesting if that happens. a.b. stoddard from "the hill." thank you. >> thank you. jenna: now we're going to move overseas and this fox news alert out of egypt where we're seeing new clashes between protesters and police at a massive opposition rally against president morsi there. escalating violence is spreading across the city and much of egypt really for the last five days ever since the president's controversial decree granting himself nearance sew lieutenant power. that is a move many critics say is veiled attempt to turn egypt back into dictatorship. others say morsi is attempting to clean out the old guard and reaffirm a brand new move to a new government in egypt. something we're watching closely in the middle east. with pressure growing last night, morsi sat down last night with a five-hour meeting with the country's senior judges in an attempt he says to diffuse the situation but refused calls to withdraw the decree.

there is new push on capitol hill to stop the environmental protection agency from moving forward with a plan to impose stricter oil and gas regulations which opponents say will only cause more pain at the pump and drive a gal ghoul lon of regular -- gallon of regular gasoline higher than what you see on the screen. peter barnes is with us with more on this. this isn't just about gas prices. tell us what is at stake hire. >> reporter: that's right, jenna. heartland institute is presenting leading critics epa with more than 15,000 petitions that demand congress quote, rein in a rogue agency. senator james inhofe, the top republican on the senate environment committee. he is accepting petitions at an event about to get underway on capitol hill in about an hour. he charged the obama minute strikes slowed and delayed numerous epa regulations to help president's campaign to

greenhouse gas regulations and water and oh soin standards. critics say look out for new rules that drive up gasoline prices. it attacks the administration climate change efforts charging that global warming is quote, a hoax. the petition concludes, quote, therefore i call for deep cuts in the size, power and cost of the epa. jenna? jenna: we're watching that press briefing get set up. soon to be underway, peter there on capitol hill. those are a lot of criticisms this group has of the white house. what does the white house have to say? >> reporter: well, no immediate response from the white house. when i asked for a comment, but it has said in the past that the administration seeks to balance economic and environmental considerations when deciding what regulations to issue. jenna? jenna: peter barnes, fox business. peter, thank you. >> reporter: you bet. jon: remember president bush's axis of evil? most of the world's attention has recently

focused on the middle east particularly iran but now there is new evidence that north korea, one of the charter members of the axis, may be preparing to test fire a long range ballistic missile. so what message are they trying to send? retired four-star army general jack keane joins us with his take. plus weather that could put some americans in a holiday mood. we're talking about snow moving into parts of the northeast. a look at where this storm is headed and how much coming up. hey! did you know that honey nut cheerios has oats that can help lower cholesterol? and it tastes good? sure does! wow. it's the honey, it makes it taste so... well, would you look at the time...

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jon: a fox news alert. lawyers for the u.s. justice department and for congressional republicans tell a federal judge today they are in talks aimed at

settling a lawsuit stemming from the botch the gun-walking operation known as "fast and furious". republicans in the house of representatives sued attorney general eric holder you might recall. he is head of the justice department. this all happened back in august to enforce a subpoena for documents about the probe. they voted in june to find holder in contempt of congress. talks over a possible settlement reportedly ongoing. we'll keep you updated. jenna: well, right now some new concerns that north korea may be preparing to test fire a long-range missile that could be capable of reaching the u.s. mainland. recent satellite images reportedly show increased activity at north korea's missile test sites. that is what you're seeing on the screen there. meaning a launch could happen in the next few weeks according to these reports. the pentagon so far has no comment on this. the state department says they have seen the reports of this possible launch. same report we're seeing in the media. they're reminding

north korea that they are banned by u.n. sanctions from working with ballistic missiles. now despite that ban we should mention north korea has test-fired several long-range missiles in the past. general jack keane, retired four-star army general and a fox news military analyst. general keane, we spend so much time talking about the middle east, north korea has a way of just reminding us that they're still there. tell us a little bit about these long-range missiles first off. what are we really looking at here? >> well, first of all, you know, north korea has a nuclear weapon and that guaranties the preservation of the regime. they certainly have been in the missile building program and ballistic missile building program here for some time. the last test they have run on these things have been a failure. back in april, kim jong-un, very uncharacteristically of a regime leader and advertised the test and the thing went out 50, 60 miles and fell into the sea.

we knew they were going to get around to having another test to this thing. it may be tied to the upcoming election in south korea which is around the 19th december. jenna: you wouldn't be surprised, you're not surprised by hearing about this now? >> no, not at all. they clamor for attention from south korea, from the japanese and from the united states. and this is more about that. they normally, when they get a little rough with the south koreans or do something to spark the anger of the united states usually they get some kind of concession frankly. so it's usually politically motivated to be sure but listen, the central intelligence agency's job is to figure out what their motivation is. the defense department's job is to have the capability to defend against an adversary's military capacity so the defense department takes it very seriously. jenna: let me stop you there because we've been showing what we call, b-roll and different missiles firing off and i want to be clear what type of missile, what

type of capability, long-range missile like the one we're saying could be tested would have. can you tell us a little bit about that weapon and what kind of defenses we do have against that? often times north korea is dismissed but as we know only takes one weapon to be successful, tested or otherwise, to really change the story if you will, general. just tell us a little bit about that. >> you're absolutely right, jenna. as i was saying the defense department takes any adversary's capacity very seriously and leaves motivation up to the intelligence community. in this case this missile they appear to be ready to test based on open sources can go about 4,000 plus miles. so it can reach alaska. it can touch hawaii to be sure. we've got defense, missile defense systems in place to deal with this kind of capability. we have land-based systems in alaska that can deal with missile and aegis systems

sea based that can deal with it. so the defense department has the capacity to deal with this kind of capability. jenna: only a few short years ago north korea was threatening to develop a nuclear weapon. we had heavy sanctions in place to try to keep them from doing that. one day we woke up and they were testing their nuclear weapon. we also look at north korea as a model potentially for iran because we have the serious sanctions on iran right now. general, i'm just curious, based on what you're seeing from north korea today, what type of scenarios do you see with iran playing out, whether or not they eventually test their own nuclear weapon and what we can expect from them if and when they do? >> well, look it, i think the iranians have always looked at this chapter in north korea as a pertains to the united states and their own nuclear weapon as something very favorable to them because the facts are we were negotiating with the north koreans about them not having a nuclear capability and secretly they developed

nuclear capability. we in a sense negotiated ourselves right into a north korean nuclear weapons capability. when you look at iran, are they doing the same thing today? you betcha. they're depending on the united states desire to solve a problem diplomaticly and also with some sanctions pressure on them. they will keep moving that nuclear development program forward which they're doing right now as we speak. jenna: it is a situation, this type of scenario that plagued both democrats and republican administrations. so it is something we'll take a look at surely the next several months. always nice to have you. thank you so much. >> good talking to you, jenna, back now to the middle east. yasser arafat, the long time leader of the palestinian people, he has been dead for several years. now his people have exhumed his body amid questions about what led to his death. what is behind this new investigation? also a beauty queen, the latest casualty in the mexican drug war.

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jon: right now a mexican beauty queen killed during a shootout between mexican soldiers and drug traffickers. rick folbaum in the new york newsroom with that. >> reporter: jon, beauty queens and drug traffickers in mexico, so common for pageant contestants to pair up with members of the drug cartels that a movie was made about it there called, miss bullet. look at headlines after a shootout that killed maria flores gamez. that says in spanish, woman killed was beauty queen. she was found dead saturday with an assault rifle by her side killed after a shootout

between mexican drug fwangs and soldiers. not clear if the 20-year-old fired the weapon found near her but authorities say she was definitely traveling with the drug gang with the group fired on soldiers leading to that shootout. flores gamez was named, 2012 women of sin low yaw. that is state often in the news it is home of ruthless drug gangs in all of mexico, something maria flores gamez have known about too well. you can check about more on this story and president obama meeting with mexico's president-elect by logging on to foxnewslatino.com. >> strange story. rick, thanks. jenna: major inquiry whether late palestinian leader yasser arafat was poisoned is now underway. scientists in the west bank exhuming his remains after finding radioactive materiel on his belongings. david lee miller joins us live from jerusalem with more. >> reporter: jenna, workers at arafat's tomb at the

presidential palace did their best to keep away prying eyes as well as cameras during the predawn exhume hags -- by setting up large blue tarp. they wanted to do everything possible to preserve privacy. one of the things that officials also did, they prevented anyone from having a cell phone so there would be no unauthorized photographs taken. arafat's wife called for the investigation after a tv documentary found what might be evidence that he was poisoned. experts on that tv show said arafat's clothing and other personal items contained deadly levels of a radioactive substance called pallone yaum. -- polonium. he was flown in france and died a few weeks later. the cause of death was a officially a stroke. scientists from rush, switzerland and france will try to determine if polonium poisoning was the cause of death but, there is big but, the test will take three months because polonium

quickly decase. polonium emits deadly radiation that destroys human tissue shoe. it can not penetrate skin. if injected it can affect major organs, dna as well as the immune system. a quantity the size of a grain of salt can be deadly. many palestinians believe arafat was poisoned by israel. that is something that israel denies. lastly now, arafat's successor mahmoud abbas, had to authorize the exhumation that took place today but he was not there when it got underway. he is now on his way to new york to attend a session of the united nations. he is expected to attend the general assembly later this week on thursday. and to ask that the status of the palestinians be upgraded to nonmember observer state. that is something that israel and the united states hasn't indicated, they have indicated they will oppose. jenna? jenna: big story there and one to watch for sure. david lee miller in

jerusalem, thank you. jon: and one of the big domestic stories, the fiscal cliff negotiations underway right now. entitlement reform is a big part of those negotiations. republicans say the nation must make adjustments to those costly programs. in exchange they say they're willing to compromise on taxes but so far no word from democrats. why? we have a fair and balanced debate next. plus the supreme court breathing new life into a challenge to the health care law. the latest on that coming up. [ male announcer ] when was the last time something made your jaw drop? campbell's has 24 new soups that will make it drop over, and over again. ♪ from jammin' jerk chicken, to creamy gouda bisque.

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that may be right for you. jon: "happening now", negative shubs to avoid the looming fiscal cliff on two issues, raising tax rates and cutting entitlement spending. republicans want to raise revenue through capping loopholes and deductions. democrats say no deal without rate hikes for wealthy americans. although the democrats say they are open to entitlement reform, details from that side of the aisle seem to be slim and powerful liberal groups like the aarp are spending big money on ads to make sure lawmakers do not touch the nation's safety net programs. so, are democrats reluctant to talk about entitlements? if so, why? let's bring in our panel. simon rosenberg, founder of ndn and former clinton campaign advisor. chris wilson, former gop

consultant and former director of the texas republican party. welcome to both of you. simon, i know you say the republican focus on reducing taxes you think is all wet? >> no. i think we're seeing progress here. i think that there is a chance, there could be a big deal done by the end of the year, first few months of next year, that involve four pieces right? raising taxes, reforming entitlements, cutting defense and cutting some spending in the rest of the budget. i think all those things are on the table. democrats have shown willingness to do all those things. remember mitt romney criticized barack obama during the campaign for cutting medicare by $716 billion. democrats reformed entitlement programs. we're not scared about that but it has to be done as part of a broader package and i think we're making progress. jon: well the criticism specifically i think people have heard that he cut medicare and then used that money in obamacare but that is kind of a different issue. chris, let's take a look at

some statistics. i think though kind of illustrate really what the problem is with medicare and social security, if you go back to 1940, the number of years of life expectancy beyond retirement for men and women was about 14 years. you retire at 65. start, you could in those days start receiving benefits at 65. you would live about 14 more years. these days you're living to 85. so the payouts go on way beyond what the program was originally designed for. also, in 1945 you had about 41.9, almost 42 people paying into the, what is it called, old age, security and disability insurance. that is the official name for social security. in 2010 you have 2.8. it seems you have to make some cuts somewhere to make this math add up. >> well, jon, you're exactly

right. those statistics speak for themselves. where simon is and president obama is is where the liberal wing of the democratic party is. when you have senators members of the united states senate, like jay rockefeller, say though will not accept any level of enlightment reform, takes the negotiations and puts them in jeopardy before they even begun. what simon laid out is four step process everyone wants to see move forward and we'll have another trillion dollar deficit according to cbo moving into next year and we can't afford anymore like that. if we take what obama would be willing to support which is increase in the age of, again recipients and other type of reforms like that, then we have a legitimate negotiation as we move into it. but when you have liberal members of the democratic party stepping forward and saying before the process begins they will not accept any type of entitlement reform, it makes it untenable process from the beginning. jon: is it no entitlement reform, simon, or is it perhaps entitlement reform

when it comes to medicare? i haven't heard anybody talk about reforming social security on democratic side? >> that is good question and i think, look i think we're in the early stages, chris, of this whole debate. eric cantor went on morning joe said and won't raise taxes on anybody under any circumstance which would you argue is stopping negotiations. both sides are laying out positions right now. there are negotiations going on. clearly the fiscal cliff is scaring everybody into action because if nothing is done, right, there will be huge deficit reduction package at end of the year which eliminates the annual budget not something we should be as scared of as everybody says. the point is focus will be on medicare more than social security. it is much bigger financial problem. the growing costs of health care are a big challenge. what i'm proud to say because some of the initiatives the president put in the first term we've actually seen a greater slowing of health care costs in the last year than we had seen any in of the previous 10 years. we're starting to see costs coming down, deficit was 20%

lower than it was year before. we're making progress. hopefully that momentum will allow us to do something really meaningful. jon: chris, like simon, some democrats said going over the fiscal cliff wouldn't be such a bad thing maybe for the short run. what do you think? >> i think woe be a huge mistake for the country. nothing else what happens with military sequestration. we have challenges with national security. we live in uncertain world where you can't allow that to occur. one thing i have to point out you can't raise taxes enough to prevent what is about to happen here and stop the deficits from moving forward. i think that is the one thing that has to be understood by democrats, you can't do this through increasing taxes. there has to be serious spending cuts put on the table. when you take those off the table before we get started it puts the process in jeopardy. jon: good discussion, chris wilson, simon rosenberg, thank you both. >> sure. jenna: for a fox extreme weather alert, a fast moving system bringing wintry weather as you see outside

of our studio in new york city across the big section of the country today. there is rain, and snow already falling on the east coast. some places they say could get up to four inches of snow. that could really affect travel. one of the reasons we're watching this today. meteorologist, maria molina is live in the fox extreme weather center with more. >> reporter: hi, jenna, good to see you. good morning everyone. we'll looking at delays big airport hubs across the northeast, newark, philly international, laguardia. delays over an hour. some delays shy of two hours here. definitely a headache if you're doing any traveling. the good news the storm system is a quick mover. it will be out by tomorrow and snowfall accumulations are not expected to be too impressive as jenna mentioned, just four inches in some spots and four inches won't be in the big cities. will be further inland across interior portions of the northeast. the storm system is a pretty large system stretching across portions new england and stretching through louisiana and southern parts of the state of mississippi.

southward they have rain and thunderstorms rolling through. as we head northbound across the northeast, temperatures are colding up. we're seeing snow coming down. some roadways could be coated but new york city i don't think we'll see too much accumulation on the roadways. if anything, maybe about an inch or so. winter weather advisories across southeastern parts of pennsylvania and northeastern new jersey. we had winter advisory across the state of west virgina we're looking at heavier know during the morning hours that already winded down. higher elevations could look at up to six inches of snowfall. wick mover as we head into tonight. precipitation will be offshore. we're looking at sunshine tomorrow but it will get colder behind it. jenna: 'tis the season. we're in it. maria, thank you. >> reporter: thanks. jon: there are new concerns about the fragile sees fire in the middle east. fox news goes inside gaza to speak with members about of hamas about the future of this truce. >> and life in the aftermath

of the deadly conflicts. americans coast to coast hoping to strike it rich this holiday season. that is not the federal budget deficit you're looking at. the powerball jackpot reaches $425 million. the latest on the big drawing just ahead.

jenna: now we turn to the latest on the new health care law. the supreme court ordering the fourth circuit court of appeals to take a second look at liberty university's challenge of the health care law. the christian school believes americans should not be required to purchase health insurance and employers should not be forced to provide it if there are religious objections to certain provisions like birth control that are part of the health care they're providing. the move could open the door for president obama's health care law to be backed before the supreme court late next year. david rifkin is a constitutional law attorney and former white house counsel under presidents reagan and george h.w. bush.

nice to have you with us today. >> good to be with you. jenna: how strong is liberty's case here? >> well, first of all it is entirely appropriate and expected the case would go forward give the fact that the supreme court removed the roadblock that the fourth circuit used earlier to stop it, namely anti-injunction act. jenna: just so our viewers know more about that the basically the 4th circuit said, listen we'll not hear this case until the tax goes into effect in 2014. once it does we'll hear it. the supreme court said, we'll hear it. >> earlier challenging said it is not a tax. it is a tax as far as individual mandate goes. on the merits they don't have a very easy road but i think their arguments have merit. what they're basically saying is the way which the statute requires you as an individual and you as an employer to purchase insurance infringes on your religious liberty about. they argue it is both because the statute sort of implicitly requires

contraception as well as the fact that there are some people on religious ground object to the very notion of purchasing insurance. they want be able to pay for their medical care as you go. i should add there is also another challenge to the implementation of this very set of provisions in the form of the contraception mandate against hhs regulations. there is interesting interplay between the two challenges. liberty university and challenge to hhs mandate which as you know, jenna, actually does require contraception coverage. jenna: i don't know if i know as much as you. you know a lot about law. you basically walked us through some of the complications of really challenging this health care law which leads to this question, david. do you think this is going to have, this particular case, will have any significant implications for the health care law that goes into effect fully in 2014? >> by itself, probably not. but it is part of a continuing set of challenges including the one i mentioned. plus the fact that a number of states, many states, in fact, are not opting into the new medicaid. are not choosing to run

their insurance exchanges. so this statute is still very much in trouble. i think the notion that having survived the facial constitutional challenge, the statute is now going to enjoy smooth sail something not the case. jenna: we hear wide spectrum of different things about the health care law. when the supreme court ruled it constitutional earlier this year many said that's it. this is the law of the land from now until kingdom come. many others critics of the law said there will be myriad of challenges actually what this health care law becomes. where are you on that spectrum? >> i think the statute is substantially handicapped. i think it would not probably die of one victory as would have been the case had the supreme court ruled otherwise with our initial challenge but a number of challenges combined with the efforts by numerous states not to participate which they have an absolute constitutional right to, not to participate in the implementation of this law

means the statute is in trouble. i think it may well die a death of numerous cuts rather than one coupe de gras. jenna: it will be interesting to see the timeline. david we'll look forward to have you back as we watch this law progress and some of challenges ahead. thank you so much. >> good to be with you. jon: a day of nationwide protests rocking egypt with thousands taking to the streets in cairo. they are demanding the resignation of their democratically elected president. that's coming up. the korean pop song getting everyone off the couch. we'll show you unlikely dancers getting in on the gangnum style craze. >> three, four, left, one, two

jon: "happening now", new

questions today surrounding the fragile cease-fire agreement between israel and militants in the gaza strip ending eight days of horrific violence. now life seems to be returning to normal in that part of the middle east but all of that could change very quickly. our conor powell met with gaza militants. he is live in gaza city with more. conor? >> reporter: jon, islamic jihad is a hamas linked group here in gaza. they told fox news despite the cease-fire agreement will they ever stop fighting nor ever accept a two-state solution in the middle east. outside gaza city and under the cover of grapefruit trees, members of islamic jihad train and prepare for the next fight with israel. proudly presenting their anti-aircraft guns and boldly promising they will have new coronet rockets in the next fight against israel, a fight they believe will happen soon. >> translator: this is only a pause. we are rearming. >> reporter: these fighters say there are tunnels and

bunkers all over gaza and that they will continue to build them during the cease-fire and use them to resist an israeli ground invasion. even in these fields where the fighters say they have the advantage, israel's fire power is clear. israel's military clearly knows these fields are not just for growing fruit and there are visible signs of a recent missile strike though it doesn't appear anything of importance was hit. in gaza city the cleanup from the past two weeks of violence continues of the within hours of the cease-fire hamas had workers cleaning up the destruction. this is not only part of the reconstruction effort but also hamas showing palestinians it is in firm control and in charge of gaza. both israel and hamas have september representatives to egypt to continue these cease-fire negotiations but with the israeli elections coming up in two months or so, nobody's expecting much to happen, jon. jon: let's hope the cease-fire holds. conor powell, thank you.

jenna: back stateside now, powerball mania is picking up. $425 million is the payout. rick, do you have your ticket? >> nope. i don't and i don't think i'm going to. jenna: really? >> listen at the risk of sounding like a debbie downer, the professor in akron ohio said you have a better chance randomly coming up with name of american female from the latest u.s. census than you do winning powerball, one in 175 million are your odds winning the jackpot. then again somebody has to win it. since no one has over the last 16 drawings the prize is quite something. 425 million. the drawing is tomorrow and the lotto people say there is 60% chance of a winner this go around mainly because ticket sales tend to go up each time nobody wins and the jackpot grows. there is new second place prize as well. one million dollars. powerball is played in 42 states plus washington, d.c. and the virgin islands.

two bucks is all it takes. don't forget if you don't play you can't win. that we can say with 100% certainty. back to you. jenna: which goes back to the question, are you going to buy your tickets? >> reporter: i don't know. jenna: veto, liz, do you have your ticket? they have their tickets. jon: do you have yours? jenna: i didn't get it yet. but i do buy lottery tickets. why not. jon: rick, took himself out of the office pool. if somebody wins, folbaum is coming to work for the rest of --. jenna: we have the tape. that is what happens. >> reporter: fair enough. jenna: we'll do our own breaking news on that if indeed it happens. rick, thanks. jon: it is the biggest dance craze since the macarena. the korean pop song, gangnam style, becoming a major hit. check out moves from the folks at terrace's retirement community, phoenix, arizona. they're having a great time. jenna: they look good, right? jon: they do. not only ones getting in on the action. 100 inmates in thailand

actually performed a gangnam style dance competition for those awaiting a hearing or trial. get this. prison officials say they organized the competition to help inmates rehabilitate and stay physically fit. jenna: really? i was going to say they probably didn't have much of a choice in all that if they're inmates right? jon: they come up with weird ones in thailand. they did a big michael jackson thriller. jenna: i remember that video. does it work? maybe we should try it. jon: check the recidivism rate in thailand. jenna: more on the story as it develops. meantime great video there. we'll move on to our second hour of "happening now." so glad you're with us today as we cover a wide array of different stories for you. there are new questions about america's growing fiscal crisis. why some experts say $16 trillion only hints at the true size of our national debt. wait until you hear the number they have. the army private charged

in the biggest intelligence leak in history is going before a judge. why he thinks he should be set free. we have that next

>> reporter: hi, everybody, rick folbaum in the control room, brand new stories over the next 60 minutes including susan rice who went to the hill today to meet with some of the gop senators most opposed to the possible secretary of state nominee. we'll tell you if she helped or hurt her cause. also a former lawmaker who says when it comes to the fiscal cliff negotiations that the american people are not getting the full story. we'll tell you why straight ahead. also, this is one of the fbi's most wanted, what he looked like nine years ago, what he could look like today. we'll tell you why the fbi is now asking for your help to catch this man who may be hiding in plain sight. all of that and breaking news as the second hour of "happening now" starts right now.

jenna: well, a big day on capitol ill, u.n. ambassador susan rice meeting with some of her toughest critics this morning, i'm jenna lee. jon: i'm jon scott. ambassador rice went to the committee to talk about benghazi. the ambassador, perhaps hoping to mend some fences in case she's nominated as the next secretary of state as is widely expected, but senators john mccain, lindsey graham and kelly ayotte they are even more troubled now by her initial explanation after today's meeting. catherine herridge is live in washington. so what do we know about what happened in that meeting? >> reporter: well, thank you, jon, and good morning. according to the senators, after that meeting for nearly an hour with ambassador rice and the acting director of the cia, the controversy over benghazi just got worse. >> we are significantly troubled by many of the answers that we got and some that we didn't get concerning evidence that was

overwhelming leading up to the attack on our consulate. >> not only is the information bad, and i'm more convinced than ever that this it was bad, it ws unjustified to give the scenario as presented by ambassador rice and president obama three weeks before an election. >> reporter: the meeting, called at the request of ambassador rice, brought together the three senators, we saw them arriving at the capitol hill visitor' center earlier today after that meet ambassador rice could not adequately explain her comments about benghazi given she had access to both classified and unclassified information. >> when you're an ambassador to the united nations, you go well beyond unclassified talking points in your daily preparation and responsibilities for that job. >> reporter: as for whether they can support any possible

promotion of rice, the senates said they want more information. there was no demonstration at the consulate before that attack which severely undercut rice's statements on the sunday shows, jon. jon: so what about the administration? any reaction to them, any response to all this? >> reporter: well, there's within no response -- been no response from the white house, but jay carney expressed full confidence in rice and her abilities. >> ambassador rice has done an excellent job at the united nations and is highly qualified for any number of positions in the foreign policy arena. i'll leave it at that. >> reporter: as for the presence of the acting cia director at the meeting this morn, fox was told it was at the request of ambassador rice and effectively the administration. one of the lingering questions is why it would be the acting cia director and not james clapper as last week his office

said that it was the intelligence communities that made those significant changes to the talking points that took out phrases like al-qaeda, jon. jon: still so many questions left to answer. catherine herridge, thank you. >> reporter: you're welcome. jon: well, both senators mccabe and ayotte will appear on fox news channel earlier today. senator ayotte will speak with megyn kelly on "america live" which comes to you right after "happening now." and then on your world, 4 p.m. eastern time, neil cavuto will talk with senator mccain, his first formal interview since today's meeting with ambassador rice, you'll want to hear what both senators have to say. jenna: new concerns right now, the president and republicans may not be able to reach a deal on that looming fiscal cliff. the president meeting with small business owners at the white house despite signs that talks are stalling on capitol hill. james rosen is live at the white house and, james, just last week folks were saying there's some

optimism coming out of these talks. why now is there a feeling that maybe things respect going as well? >> reporter: let's face it, jenna, a trained observer could be forgiving for serving the state of these fiscal cliff negotiations involving the white house and senate dem crates on one hand, house republicans on the other and concluding these talks have effectively broken down. president obama, fresh from his re-election victory and convinced he wields a mandate on this issue, is forsaking further negotiating sessions this week and is instead holding a variety of campaign-style events, meeting tomorrow with the ceos of larger firms as well as middle class taxpayers and then heading out on friday to the philadelphia area for a large rally. >> do you expect the president will sit down with leadership this week to discuss this and that he will take a leadership role in this fight? >> well, the president is taking a leadership role in this fight. the president already had the congressional leaders to the white house a little while back. we've already done, as you know,

a trillion dollars in cuts as part of the budget control act. the president has additional cuts in the proposal he's presenting. he's got more health care cuts than simpson-bowles proposed. >> reporter: yet for all the chumminess of last week's session when there was talk of a blueprint being on the president's desk by now, republican leaders are looking askance at the chief executive, quote, going back on the campaign trail and are accordingly planning their own campaign stale style-events. quote: >> reporter: now, this is just one little thing that caught my eye, and i just have to share it with you, jenna and jon. among the 15 or so small business owners is one louis

prince, described as co-founder of vintage vinyl in st. louis, missouri, it is an actual record store. you've got to wonder what they're breaking out for the meeting, maybe i don't some led zeppelin. [laughter] jenna: this is kind of your guys, james, of all apartments, this speaks to james rosen the most. >> reporter: it caught my eye. jenna: what about the timeline? obviously, you just mapped out for us both sides say -- they don't say, but both sides seem to be engaging in a strategy that looks like a campaign to get public opinion on their side. >> reporter: right. jenna: as far as a timeline for any of this, you know, what is that looking like right now? >> reporter: whale, recall that we heard from the house minority leader, nancy pelosi, last week when the leaders were here at the white house that they wanted to send a message of confidence both to consumers and to markets in the short term, and that's why it was important to have a blue print on the

president's desk by the week of thanksgiving, that's now. and a deal, perhaps inked by the president, by christmas day. the longer we go without any such blueprint on the president's desk, the less confidence markets and consumers will feel. jenna: if you hear of any blueprint or any led zeppelin coming from the white house, if you'd let us know, that would be great. [laughter] >> reporter: i'll 320. [laughter] jenna: thank you. jon: violence breaks out on the streets of cairo. demonstrators there clashing with police as the president fails to satisfy their demands. we'll get into that. and the u.s. soldier accused of releasing hundreds of thousands of classified secrets appears in court today. why the alleged leaker says he deserves to be set free. [ male announcer ] when was the last time something made your jaw drop?

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jenna: welcome back, everyone. the army private charged in the biggest intelligence leak in u.s. history now wants out from behind bars. bradley manning is accused of sending hundreds of thousands of classified documents to the web site wikileaks. at a pretrial hearing starting today, the 24-year-old is expected to argue he's already been punished enough. his lawyers say the military locked up bradley alone in a small cell for months, forced him to sleep naked for several nights, and because of that, they feel his punishment has been served. we'll let you know what happens. jon: hmm. more protests rock egypt as critics of the president take to the streets there. huge crowds gathering in cairo and other cities, they want the president to resign. president muhammad morsi hopes to ease the tension, he's backing off a decree that places him above the law. so far, though, it's not enough to satisfy the concerns of his critics. steve harrigan streaming live

for us from cairo right now. steve? >> reporter: jon, these are the biggest and the largest anti-presidential crowds we've seen, and they're still pouring in by the thousands. we can hear them chanting behind us, we want the regime to leave. these protests are a mix of different kinds of political parties, some of whom are secularists, others national i'm sorries, a real mix of young and old too. they seem to be united by an anger, the president gave himself the ability to issue acts that can't be reviewed by the courts. the president himself met a show of compromise yesterday, he met with some of his critics here in cairo. he said his powers were only temporary, and they would only apply to matters of national sovereignty, but that has not been enough for the critics or the protesters. they're streaming in here, really a show of force by those opposed to the president. muhammad morsi has a tremendous amount of popular support as

well, the muslim brotherhood canceled its march today, they were afraid if they marched at the same time, there could be violence. right now we are seeing scuffles, tear gas back and forth between police and some of the younger protesters and reports that one protester has died, suffocated from the tear gas. jon, back to you. jon: steve harrigan, thank you. for more on this and what it means to america's interests in the region, aaron david miller, adviser to sex secretaries of state -- six secretaries of state. so we got rid of hosni mubarak, what has taken his place? >> well, you've got an insular party, anti-semitic, very peculiar views on women and gender equality. elected democratically in a very traditional, conservative country. and the muslim brotherhood, and let's be clear, once a bro

always a bro, even though morsi has technically resigned from his party, the brothers are involved in a long game. it's going to outlast barack obama, it's going to outlast the next american president, and their objective is to become the predominant political force shaping egypt in a much more conservative direction. i don't think we're talking about a little tehran on the nile, but you are talking about a transor formation in a country over time -- transformation in a country over time that is going to make it very difficult for the united states, let alone the israelis, to have a functional and durable relationship. but it's the long game. jon: we heard secretary of state clinton heaping praise on president morsi for helping broker or that ceasefire between the hamas and israelis. it was just a day or two later that he made this power grab. was he emboldened by the praise

from the united states? >> he's one clever guy. i don't think he anticipated playing the role he did between israel and hamas, but once they gave him the opportunity, absolutely. he saw his, um, goodwill in the bank with the west providing a cover and a justification for this latest move. the truth is, he's emerging in many respects the way mubarak did. and the americans gave, we, gave mubarak a pass on human rights and authoritarian behavior in return for mubarak's cooperation against iran on counterterrorism and with the pursuit of arab/israeli peace. morsi, i think, wants to cash in on some of the same elements of the bar gain. jon: let's turn our attention to syria. the bloodshed goes on there, some would say that it has been, i mean, that world attention has been focused on what's been going on between hamas and the israelis, maybe the egyptian protests while the syrians

continue to kill their own people with the support of iran. what do you think? >> yeah, i mean, look, you know, it's coming up now on two years since relatively peaceful demonstrations turned into, essentially, a civil war. and the reality is there has been so much blood that has been spilled, that it's going to negate the possibility of a negotiated settlement between the assads and the opposition and, tragically, not enough blood has been spilled in order to prompt a divided international community, and the administration is very warily -- i would argue rightly, frankly -- about getting dragged into an open-ended military intervention ford to topple the assads. maybe there's a few more things we can do. arming some of the rebels that we vet, maybe considering up a sort of passive no-fly zone with

patriot missiles and abacks to -- awac, s, but this situation's going to get worse before it gets worse. jon: given the fact that the iranians, not our friends, are so involved in helping to prop occupy bashar assad's government with arm, with soldiers, with everything else, is there not somebody that deserves u.s. support? >> i think they do. the question is -- govern's about choosing. we've come off the two longest wars in american history with are the standard -- where the standard for victory was not can we win, but when can we leave? and reality is no president, had mitt romney been reelected or elected, excuse me, i'm not sure his policy with respect to syrian intervention would have been all that different than the one that the administration is currently pursuing. so, yeah, it's tough to watch, and i think there's more we can do, but this is a long movie, jon, and it's probably not going

to have a happy ending. jon: aaron david miller is the author of "the much too promised land." thank you. >> appreciate it. jenna: well, if you thought $16 trillion in debt was bad, our next guest says that's not even close to the real cost of what uncle sam and american taxpayers are going to owe. the mind-blowing number and what he says must be done right now to change our fate. plus, the fbi thinks one of america's most wanted is living in plain sight in one community. this is what he looked like after allegedly gunning down an armored truck driver, what he looks like now using age enhancement technology. you can see on the right side of your screen where the feds think he could be today. we'll tell you coming up.

jenna: a fox news alert, taking you out to california. you don't see this every day, sometimes in cartoons. a car accident, one of the cars hits a fire hydrant and then, well, this happens. we don't have control of of the this helicopter shot, if you get a faraway shot, which we're hoping to get, you'll see just how high in the air this goes. it's right outside of los angeles, right through rush hour time, you know, 9:30 out there, just about 9:30 in l.a. and causing just a little extra obstacle in the compute. you've got to get your windshield wipers going for that. jon: yeah, look at all those cars. nice and clean in l.a. jenna: free car wash. you're welcome. jon: old faithful, this is not. the fbi now saying one of the fugitives on its top ten wanted list could be hiding in the mormon community. investigators say the accused killer is familiar with the religion and once served as a missionary. rick folbaum live in our new

york newsroom with this. >> reporter: this case has gone pretty cold, they're hoping by publicizing it the way they did with the whitey bulger case that the same thing might happen, somebody sees a picture and says, hey, i know that guy. his name is jason brown. on the left side of the screen is what he looked like when he committed his alleged crime. he's now a 43-year-old former mormon missionary, wanted for murder back in '04, and on the right side of the screen is what the fbi says he could look like today, eight years later. they have technology that allows them to show that picture. brown allegedly shot his victim five times at close range with a .45 caliber handgun, then rode off on a bicycle with $56,000 in cash. the fbi says he's very good at blending in, he could be hiding out in plain sight, as you said, within a more more community somewhere in the country.

just yesterday the fbi announced another capture of its most wanted hiding out in mexico for the past 14 years. he's now back in the u.s. charged with multiple counts of murder and kidnapping and rape, and the agency says that getting his name out there along with the offer of a $100,000 reward helped lead to his arrest. we'll see if it helps in this other case. back to you. jon: rick folbaum, thanks. jenna: well, behind the urgent battle to avoid that fiscal cliff is the growing national debt. the number is around $16 trillion, above that. but our next guest says that figure really only hints at the true size of america's debt. former congressman bill archer was the chairman of the house ways and means committee, he just penned an article for "the wall street journal" today that talks about this. so, congressman, $16 trillion, you say that doesn't tell the full story. what does? >> the way that the federal government keeps its books does

not include the promises which are now made to the american people for all of the entitlements, mainly medicare and social security. and when you look at that over the future, you're looking at another $86 trillion of obligations. and that is not included. jenna: wow. i mean, $86 trillion is difficult to even conceptual ice. $16 trillion is tough enough. just so we have this straight, $16 trillion is what we owe, like our io,s right now, but you're saying another 90 trillion on top of that -- 70 trillion on top of that is what we will owe if things don't change. >> absolutely. and it's coming at us, and unfortunately the american people do not understand all of this. but we're heading in the same direction as greece and a lot of the other european countries, except it is going to be so massive as it develops that even

the world capital structure will not be enough to accommodate it. jenna: you confronted the same issue, you wrote about this in "the wall street journal" today, when you served in the house of representatives, a long time, 1970-2001, so you spent a great deal of time in service, which we appreciate, congressman. this, andwe get our hands why can't changes be made? what do you think is really the obstacle here? >> well, the changes are that the american people really do not want to make sacrifice today, and politically it is very, very difficult to touch some of these areas which the american people have become dependent on. and the idea is always conveyed that someone else is going to pay for it. the idea is conveyed to people today, i hear it over and over again on television, well, you paid for your medicare benefits, so you should get them, and it should not be reformed. but the reality is that the american people in their lifetimes only pay about half of

maybe even less than half of what they will expect to withdraw in the way of benefits after they get on medicare. jenna: and, congressman, if i could, we actually have a screen that shows about what you're talking about, how much we might pay in and what we use as far as money. what we're getting on our screen is from the urban institute, and you can see in the year 2020 for a two-earner couple making just under $90,000, you know, their annual salary, over their lifetime they'll pay $153,000 into medicare, but they'll likely use, you know, more than double that in the benefits that they're going to need in their retirement. but i'd like to take you up on the the issue that you said the mesh people aren't -- american people aren't willing to change. even among my friends today, we actually don't think that some of these entitlements are coming to us simply based on the numbers. so it seems like there's an opportunity here to make a change in this path, to get off

this path from $86 trillion that's going to lead us to that. what do you think is going to be key? what breaks the dead locke? >> well -- deadlock? >> well, what will break the deadlock, sadly enough, will be when we are able to borrow enough money to meet all these commitments at an interest rate that we can afford. and we will get there -- jenna: is it too late when we get there? >> well, sure, it's too late by the time you get there, because once interest rates begin to go up and people begin to say, wait a minute, we don't want to hold anymore u.s. debt, the chinese are already backing off from it, then it's very, very difficult to solve the problem. we can solve it today if we're willing to make some relatively small changes in reforming medicare and social security. but you saw the democrat leader in the senate who has said we're not going to touch medicare as a part of the ultimate solution to

solving the cliff problem. so the democrats have over and over again said we do not want to touch entitlements, and the irony is that when you look at the massive nature of these figures, there's not going to be enough taxes to pay for them. jenna: and that's what the republicans say when the republicans say they're not going to touch tax rates. so it seems like there's a standoff there between two nonnegotiables that probably feed to be negotiated in one way or the other. congressman, it's nice to have you on the program. >> thank you, jenna. jon: well, the national debt, medicare reform, now there's another major unresolved issue, a new effort underway on capitol hill to tackle immigration reform. and new questions over how much force is too much after the death of an accused shoplifter outside a walmart. our legal panel weighs in. plus, the cost of

devastation, how the price of superstorm sandy stacks up against hurricane katrina. ♪ constipated? yeah. mm. some laxatives like dulcolax can cause cramps. but phillips' caplets don't. they have magnesium. for effective relief of occasional constipation. thanks. [ phillips' lady ] live the regular life. phillips'. or annuity over 10 or even 20 years? call imperial structured settlements. the experts at imperial can convert your long-term payout into a lump sum of cash today.

jon: a new proposal from house republicans that would make it easier for green card holders to bring family members to the united states, this after analysts say the issue of immigration played a major role in november's election results. doug mckelway live on capitol hill with that. >> reporter: hey, jon. republicans and supporters of

this bill say republicans have to become aware of the demographic shifts which so demonstrated themselves in the november 6th election results, and they have to do it in a way in which they are not presenting themselves as substitute democrats that don't respect border enforcement and the civic disorder that comes with that. they plan to do it through the so-called s.t.e.m. jobs bill, that's short for science, technology, engineering and mathematics. and it would eliminate the diversity lottery green card program that would reallocate up to 55,000 green cards for foreign graduates with degrees from u.s. universities. it would be available to those with doctorates or master's degrees. congressman lab doer who is a native born puerto rican is the main sponsor of this bill and a strong proponent of reaching out to minority communities. here he is. >> i understand we need to have a new tone about immigration, we need to be more welcoming to people, we need to go to these

communities and talk to them, but at the same time we don't need to change our agenda. too many republicans think we need to abandon our agenda, and we need to become a different kind of party, and washington clearly doesn't need two liberal parties. >> reporter: he says this bill allows the beneficiaries to invite their families to the united states, their wives, their husbands, their children which present green card holders in many cases cannot do, so it respects family values in that sense. the present law does not allow that. at the same time, senate republicans are unveiling their own answer to the immigration issue in this country, thatting being an alternative to the dream act which they call the achieve act. it allows immigrants to come into this country if today intend to go to technical school, to college or to serve in the military through a graduated visa program, ultimately resulting in citizenship. jon, back to you,. jon: changes afoot on capitol hill, thank you. jenna: from washington, d.c.

back to new york state now. new york governor andrew cuomo creating a stir saying superstorm sandy is proving more costly to his region than hurricane katrina was to new orleans and the gulf coast. we're going to take a look at these numbers. fox business network's elizabeth macdonald has more. >> reporter: the cost is $71 billion. now, for hurricane katrina it's $110 billion. the way it breaks down is $43 billion all in for new york state, about $30 billion for new jersey. add about $41 billion for new york, it's $19 billion for new york city and another $9 billion in costs to protect the power grid going forward. so, yes, hurricane sandy ranks near the top of all u.s. natural disasters in terms of cost, but it doesn't approach the full cost of hurricane katrina right now, jenna. jenna: some important context for us there, liz. who's going pay for the billions and billions? >> yeah, that's an important question.

75% of the reimbursement costs for things like mass transit is covered by the federal government; but now new york state and new jersey are asking the federal government to pay potentially 90% to 100%, and governor andrew cuomo of new york is saying, you know what? he does not want new york taxpayers to pay anything towards the cost of hurricane sandy. here is governor cuomo on that. >> to try to finance that through taxes would incapacitate this state. my philosophy isn't change tax increases are always the last, last, last resort. >> and here's the thing, too, in hurricane irene, new york state did pick up a lot of the costs there, but hurricane sandy had a wider impact. and so the federal government needs the step in in a bigger way. back to you, jenna. 9/11 9/11 we'll see what happens, liz, thank you. >> sure. jon: how much force is too much force when it comes to dealing with an accused shoplifter?

one man is dead after he was accused of stealing a couple dvd players from walmart in the atlanta area. the alleged tee here, identified as vidal callway, a serious shoplifter with a lengthy rap sheet. three walmart workers -- that includes a security guard under contract to walmart -- restrained callaway by basically placing themselves on top of him. when cops arrived, they say callaway was unresponsive, they also found him bleeding from the mouth and nose. he was later pronounced dead at a local hospital. lis wiehl is a fox news legal analyst and doug burns, a former federal prosecutor. so this guy is accused of leaving a walmart at #u 30 in the morning -- 1:30 in the morning on this past sunday. he's got a couple of dvds with them. these two -- well, the assistant store manager and another employee and the security guard confront him --

>> jump on him. jon: -- them him to stop, and he winds up dead. >> there's a chokehold, we know that because the police officers finally came. he was being held in a chokehold, the police officer could not revive him. he was taken to the hospital and died after that, jon. jon: one of the statements, doug, is that the person who put him in the chokehold said tap when you can no longer breathe, you know, tapout like mixed martial arts fighters do. >> i read that. look, it's an unfortunate fact pattern, but you have to look at the police reports carefully because the fact of the matter is the law -- as i know lis would confirm -- is that if this perpetrator used or tried to use deadly force on them, they can respond. we don't know. >> the guy was running away from them with a couple of -- >> but do you know if he had a knife or or gun? >> forced to the ground. there's no indication that a knife or gun -- >> no indication either way. >> at all, and walmart's policy

is to back off. when something like this happens, back off. these are not law enforcement-trained people. back off, call 911. if you have to let the guy go, don't let him die. jon: one of the walmart employees said the guy took a swing at him, doug. i've had people take swings at me in my lifetime, and when fist meets face and the adrenaline starts boiling, all kinds of things happen. >> and the point is it's subjective in your own mind. a melee broke out, we know that, and we don't know all the details is all i'm saying. if you look at it just in a vacuum, guy shoplifted two dvd players and they killed him, that's not what necessarily happened. >> we know there are three people on one guy, the one guy ends up dead, there were dvd players, that's all that was taken, and these were not trained law enforcement. i think you'd have to admit if they were, doug, that would be excessive use of force. jon: the one guy had a record that included shoplifting, substance abuse, theft and forgery. now, we don't particularly what

kind of substance abuse, but cocaine abusers often have weak hearts. >> but the police came and said that the guy didn't try to run away, did nothing. >> but they're not there at the time of the incident. jon: it was already -- >> it was already. >> he was already almost dead. >> but i think jon's point is, look, could he have been fueled up on narcotics? >> jon: we'll connell to watch that case. >> excessive force. jon: to our knowledge they have not released the results of the autopsy. then let's talk about the big, well, you might call it panty brawl in california. we showed you this video yesterday captured on a cell phone. these guys going at it inside a mall after they got into a black friday argument over victoria's secret products. nobody arrested, apparently they just all beat it out of there before the cops actually arrived. does anybody facetiming, could one of these folks go back to

the mall, doug, and say, hey, bad security, i'm going to sue you guys. >> first of all, you could theoretically have an assault. i'm not a big fan, as you said earlier -- >> i thought you were there -- >> if somebody pun punched me in the mall over a pair of panties, i'm not going to go to the police. >> i think the embarrassment factor would keep me from going to the police. [laughter] jon: i can't see anybody who looked like least weal in that video. thank you both. >> my pleasure. jenna: by the way, if anyone has a lottery ticket, you're going to want to stay tuned. i have a development on power paul that we'll get to after the break. in the meantime, more than two million americans could lose their unemployment benefits at the end of the year. how do you like those stories juxtaposed, the lottery, unemployment benefits? what's the effect? could it be a good thing for the economy? we're going to debate all of this. plus, producers of two and a

half men can't catch a break, which one of these guys is trashing his own show? we'll tell you next. ♪

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if you've had enough, ask your dermatologist about enbrel. jenna: it is the biggest jackpot ever. if you have a powerball ticket, listen up. if you don't, go out and buy it because the jack post just went up from $425 million to $500 million for whoever has that lucky ticket. you see him on the screen, rick folbaum. he said last hour he's not buying a ticket. >> reporter: now i'm in. i changed my mind. a half a billion dollars, that's my threshold. once it gets to $500 million, i'm in. jenna: after taxes, rick, $327 million. i mean, why not? >> reporter: not too shabby. jenna: are we all in together? >> reporter: elle walk down the street after the show, we'll get a couple of tickets. i feel like i've already won the lottery, jenna, i mean, think about it, do we have to do this?

[laughter] jon: working here on "happening now," that's worth half a billion right there. jenna: i don't know, guys, i think that half billion sounds good, but it's good to be grateful. rick, thank you. we want to see the tickets, and maybe we'll win. all right. >> reporter: all right, sounds good. -and-a-half pennsylvania thanks, rick. jon: a new report showing home prices on the rise. the case-shiller index shows prices in 20 cities rose 30% in september -- 3% in september compared to last year. buyers from china, you know, they like to buy our debt, they're also snapping up luxury i hopes along the east and west coast, and often they are paying cash. william la jeunesse live in los angeles with more on that. william? >> reporter: yeah, that communist capital, jon, is good news for sellers and a green light for buyers. the housing market does appear to have bottomed given the case sherl numbers you just cited, and prices are up in a majority of our largest cities including

atlanta and las vegas which have been done for years. foreigners are fueling the fire, jon. the national association of realtors says nonamerican buyers putting in 82 billion in home purchases last year, that's up 25%, seven billion from the chinese. some paying cash for high-end, multimillion dollar homes with special kitchens, in-law suites, even koi ponds. >> they're probably the top 1% of the mandarin speakers coming from china. they're really the people who have their own businesses or maybe were part of the government. >> with you get a huge bang for your buck. you get land, you get good schools, you get a safe environment, um, nice community life. >> reporter: so with a relatively weak dollar, chinese buyers feel like they're getting a bargain here, and many

foreigners are going to states hard hit by foreclosure. latin americans like florida, mexicans to texas, asians to nevada and california. among the chinese about 40% are buying homes as an investment. others to live here or their kids to live here. mainland china has almost one million millionaires, and nearly half say they want to invest in the u.s. >> it's a sign of their status, you know? you can show off to your friends or family that i can buy something overseas. not everybody can do it. >> reporter: so the big picture nationally, jon, after crashing in prices are back to levels we saw in 2003 before the so-called housing bubble. back to you. jon: william la jeunesse, thank you. and we'll be right back. twins. i didn't see them coming.

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jenna: right now, more than two million of the long-term unemployed could lose their unemployment benefits at the end of the year, and questions remain about whether or not a deal will be reached as part of the fiscal cliff negotiations to extend those benefit, and some wonder if more extensions are a good thing in the economy. christian dorsey is from the economic policy institute, daniel mitchell, senior fellow at the cato institute. you say, listen, maybe we shouldn't extend unemployment at this time right now in this economy? why snot. >> i don't want to sound like scrooge, so ill -- i'll quote paul krugman or larry summers, they all come to the same conclusion. the more people you pay people to be jobless, the more likely they are to be jobless. and the academic research is pretty clear you extend and lengthen periods of unemployment by providing these subsidies. now, i agree government should

do something, but adopt pro-growth policies so that we get more job chase, because that's what will help tease people the most. jenna: christian, it used to be during the financial crisis that state and federal unemployment benefits would give you about 99 weeks of unemployment. right now the longest in our country is around 83 weeks in the state of new york. what do you think is reasonable right now? >> well, look, the reason we have these extended federal unemployment benefits is because we still have incredibly high rates of joblessness. i certainly agree we need a pro-growth, pro-jobs agenda, but in the meantime there needs to be something that allows them to participate fully in the economy and in society. so you're talking about a very real economic need with such high rates of unemployment, such high rates of long-term unemployment to continue these federal unemployment extensions. jenna: dan, what do you think about that? if these people do not get benefits and they can't participate in the economy, they

can't go christmas shopping. what about that point of view? >> i'm simply looking at the empirical evidence. i guess you could call it a tough love approach. if people get these unemployment benefits, they sort of figure i can hold out for a better job, i can wait a little longer to wait for a job. heck, i've known people that have used unemployment benefits as basically an excuse not to get a job for 13, 26 weeks, whatever the period was. now, obviously, if you find an example of a family with a couple of kids, that's a lot harder, harder-luck story than just some single guy goofing his way off through life -- jenna: like the guys you went to college with. no, i'm just going to leave it there. unfortunately, christian, i'll give you the first response next time because i'd love to have you both back to talk about this, and this is an important issue. thank you both very much. >> thank you. jenna: we'll be right back. ♪

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